An American in Paris
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
THE STORY
In 1928, at the urging of Maurice Ravel, George Gershwin travelled to Paris to study composition with famed French pedagogue Nadia Boulanger. Boulanger insisted she had nothing new to teach Gershwin. But rather than return to New York City, Gershwin opted to remain in Paris for several months, turning the sights and sounds of the city into a new “tone poem for orchestra”—An American in Paris.
According to Gershwin, the work begins with a depiction of a stroll down the bustling Champs-Élysées, complete with the traffic sounds of the Place de la Concorde at rush hour (Gershwin used real Parisian taxi horns to achieve the effect). Known as the “walking themes,” these light-hearted moments give way to the sight of the Seine River—perhaps recalling New York’s Hudson River—leaving the protagonist “suddenly succumbed to a spasm of homesickness.” The work ends with a return to the initial “walking themes,” depicting the swarming city streets as a cure to the American homesickness. As Gershwin suggested of the ending, “Home is swell! But after all, this is Paris—so let’s go!”
LISTEN FOR
- The honking taxi horns—upon meeting Gershwin in his Paris apartment, the pianist Mario Braggiotti recalled nearly twenty differently pitched taxi horns perched atop Gershwin’s piano; he had to find just the right combination!
- The violin solo linking the first “homesick” blues theme to the second—Gershwin suggests the wobbly motive displays the effect of too much “French wine”
- Gershwin’s use of colorful and, at times, dissonant harmonies, particularly on display in the “walking themes”
- The extensive writing for the saxophone, which was not a commonly utilized instrument in concert music settings, but adds a distinctive jazz flair
INSTRUMENTATION
Piccolo, three flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, celesta, strings
